Category Archives: South Africa

Goodbye South Africa!

May 16, 2015 danlambey 1 Comment

The last two weeks have been a bit more relaxed because we are back in Howick and not doing daily work. We have been taking walks, swimming and organising our plans for the rest of our travels. Here is a little bit of what we have experienced and what lies ahead.

FreeMe

We have spent more time volunteering at FreeMe, the wildlife rehabilitation centre, where things have been pretty eventful. There have been a string of new animals coming in, lots are making good progress and we have seen several animals grow stronger and be released. We were also there the day that the FreeMe vehicle was stolen from outside a shop in Howick, it’s unbelievable to think that someone would steal from a charity that needs the vehicle to rescue animals. Hopefully they will be able to raise enough money from their raffle over the next few months to replace it and get back on the road.

We must say a huge thank you to Tanisha, Roz, Isra, Carol, Brian, Sandile and all the animals for letting us help out and for being great company whilst we were there. We had a wonderful time and hopefully we made a contribution to the welfare of the animals. They certainly had an effect on us, we both got very attached to many of the creatures.

This cape turtle dove cleaned me as i cleaned his aviary

A previously released bird that still hangs around

Seeing the sights

We took a nice walk around the Karkloof Falls one afternoon 🙂

as well as taking many walks around the Amber Valley area where we are staying!

We also had a day out at Wessa hunting for the resident giraffe! We found tracks so we know he was nearby, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to find the giraffe himself. It’s amazing that such a large animal can be so hard to find!

These things were incredibly clumsy jumpers

Giraffe print! (to the left of Ruby’s hand)

Apartheid

One thing that I have found particularly strange and disturbing during my time in South Africa is the issue of racial segregation. There was a great deal of racial segregation in the early history of South Africa, typically attempts to keep European colonies and indigenous African civilisations from clashing. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation officially used by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 to separate people of different races. People were removed from their homes and non-white political representation was banned in 1970. Apartheid officially ended 21 years ago but the effects are still evident today.

Nelson Mandela fought hard to end the apartheid regime and simply wanted a society where everyone was viewed equally regardless of their race and background, an ideal that I believe in myself. Though apartheid has ended, there still seems to be a strong attitude here that people can be viewed differently because of their race, and people of all cultures have been guilty of this.

I have met many white people with a prejudice against Africans, blaming any poor working standards from Africans on the fact that they have darker skin, rather than facing the real issue which is that many Africans were deprived of a good education under the apartheid regime and many still live in poor conditions in townships as a result. Although we haven’t faced any direct discrimination ourselves we have been made aware of local Afrikaans people in some areas who have a hatred of the English, a lingering grudge held from the Anglo-Boer wars which were over 100 years ago. During our time here there has also been discrimination by the Zulu people of Durban and Pietermaritzburg who attacked foreign Africans, looted shops and rioted after their king commented that foreigners were taking their jobs and should go home. The attacks even resulted in some deaths.

With such a messy history of racial segregation I expected more lessons would have been learned in South Africa by now. With such a wide range of people living under one flag I hope that things will improve further and the people and cultures will be able to live together peacefully because the different cultures makes this country fascinating and unique. On a positive note, the xenophobic attacks in Durban and Pietermaritzburg caused an outcry and a lot of people stood together in solidarity against xenophobia and racism, which shows that it is just the acts of an ignorant minority and not the view of the nation as a whole.

To prove the point that all humans are equal, if you were to take a random social group of 55 chimpanzees and test the variations in their DNA, they would be more diverse than the variations found in the DNA of the entire human population. We are all brothers and sisters, regardless of our appearance, heritage, education or religion.

Next Steps

This Sunday, the 17^th of May, will be our 90^th day in South Africa. We have had a great time here but after 90 days we must pack our bags and move on to explore somewhere new! Our next stop is Botswana, where we will spend 8 weeks volunteering at a nature reserve and then a week travelling on a tour. Botswana has white and black bands on its national flag to represent racial harmony, and is highly renowned for its scenery and wildlife. We are particularly excited to see the Okavango Delta on the tour.

Further down the line we have a week in Namibia and 8 weeks of elephant research in Malawi before we come home! Stay tuned!

South Africa

Organic Farming at Overthere Farm

May 1, 2015 danlambey 2 Comments

On Tuesday 7^th April we headed to the Byrne Valley near Richmond. We had arranged to stay for three weeks with the Graaf family who run a small organic farm on the hillside.

The family

The farm is home to Gerry, Marcella, and their two daughters Mirte and Femke. There are also two tenant families in houses in the lower property. It was always interesting to spend time with the family, the conversations we had were always fascinating and we learnt so much from all of them. The girls are homeschooled and it was wonderful to see how engaging learning was for them. This was really inspiring for me because I often found school to be somewhat of a chore, but the family reminded me how captivating learning new things can be.

DSCF8456 — Ruby, Mirte, Gerry, Femke, Marcella and me with three of the dogs – Brabazon, Gwynever and Raven.

The Farm

The farmhouse has been converted from four separate farm buildings and steadily built up into a lovely home over the last couple of decades. The goats have a little building just outside the dairy and the other animals roam around in the many different fields around the farm. Some of the fields have electric fences around them to stop certain animals from trying to escape from where they’re supposed to be. A path leads down from the dairy into a vegetable garden, full of fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. It was also where the volunteer accommodation was, a building that once housed chickens, but now housed us. There was a separate volunteer kitchen, shower and bathroom just down past the vegetable garden. Outside was a water tank called a donkey boiler which we would have to warm up with a fire for at least half an hour to have hot water for a shower.

Playing games at the fair arranged by Femke and Zoya (neighbour)

The animals

There were over 50 animals on the farm, so there were lots of names to learn. There were also plenty of interesting characters among them! There were 4 Great Danes who were all really friendly and loved attention, which was a challenge to start with because of their size but we soon got used to them. 5 cats, one of whom was particularly happy to meet us and lived with us in the volunteer building. There were also 22 goats and over 20 cows, I didn’t manage to learn all of their names but as long as you know the names of the dominant females you can herd them and the rest will follow. There was also a bull called Humphrey who was usually well behaved and followed the other cows, but he would sometimes deliberately just stand in the way of what we were doing and show us his horns. Only Gerry was able to move him if he was being stubborn. There were lots of chickens who provided fresh eggs and de-ticked the cows when they came up for milking. There was a horse, a mule and a donkey. The donkey was particularly friendly and loved coming over to watch us work. Finally, the pigs. There was a boar called Crispy, two sows called Sproet and Rusty, and 18 piglets when we first arrived. Rusty took a particular shine to me and would not leave me alone for a few days when she came on heat. It was very flattering but she’s just not my type.

Cricket the mule, Red the Horse and Tapa the donkey

There was, of course, also a wide range of wildlife in the area. We saw lots of birds, including Crowned Cranes flying in to roost in the evenings, as well as cheeky Vervet Monkeys and lots of insects.

The work

There was always a variety of work to be done and lots of new skills to learn. Every morning would start with collecting leftovers from the kitchen of the hotel next door for the pigs. After that we would be given our jobs for the day. Jobs included milking goats, shoveling up goat poo and using at as manure in the veg garden or dropping it into the methane digester (used to produce fuel from animal waste), herding cows or goats, burning things, chopping wood, pulling weeds, digging trenches, making a concrete manhole for pipes to the methane digester, building concrete slopes towards a drain near the dairy so that cow poo could be flushed into the methane digester, watching the goats and making sure they behave themselves, collecting wild pears for the pigs or helping collect ingredients for supper or bake bread for the following day. The variety in jobs kept things interesting and meant we never got bored of the work we were given.

The surroundings

On our days off we would often take a walk into the village of Byrne itself, where there was a small tea garden in one of the resident’s back garden. They served delicious fresh food and drinks and it was nice to have a change of scenery and relax there. There was also a forest uphill from the village which was great to walk in on hot days because it was so shaded. One day we also walked up to the peak just north of the forest where we got an amazing view of the valley and the Drakensberg Mountains in the distance.

The teagarden’s resident dogs, Nugget and Puff

Moving On

After our three weeks were up, the farm welcomed two new volunteers who are on an extended honeymoon and I’m sure they’ll have a great time there. We packed our bags and spent the morning saying goodbye to the animals and the family. We’re so grateful for their hospitality and company, we had a very special time and wish them all the best for the future. Thank you!

Now we are back in Howick where we will spend a few more weeks organising and volunteering before flying to Botswana.

A Spalding Surprise

On our way back to Howick we stopped off at a small charity shop and I got a surprising little reminder of home. In a large box full of old books was one which instantly stood out to me – “SPALDING”. Somehow, thousands of miles from Spalding in a tiny charity shop in KwaZulu-Natal I had stumbled across a book full of old black and white pictures of the town and some of its buildings. It seems that I just can’t escape that place!

Calling Home

We were lucky enough last week to be able to get onto Skype and I got to see some of my family for the first time since we left over two months ago. It was great to see my mum, Craig and Natalie and have a little chat with them. There have been a couple of days in the last few weeks where I’ve really missed being at home and spending time with the people (and creatures) who are dear to me. And a couple of times where I have questioned why I’m on the other side of the world from them. But time is flying by really quickly out here, we’re keeping very busy, have met some wonderful people and had some fantastic experiences. We want to see as much of Africa as we can whilst we are here, it is a truly magical place. But rest assured I will be very excited to see familiar faces when we are flying back to England in a few months’ time 🙂

Take care everyone! x

South Africa

Howick Catchup

May 1, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

It’s been a long time since an update! Here is what we were up to in Howick during the first week in April:

FreeMe

We did some more volunteering at FreeMe KZN and spent a lot of time talking to Ella the parrot. And one day was particularly exciting – we helped collect a Puff Adder from the tourist area at Howick Falls! Puff adders are highly venomous and it was incredible how quickly they can strike. We didn’t get too close.

Wessa (Umngeni Valley)

We also took a walk at Wessa, seeing several zebra and the Howick falls from across the valley.

South Africa

Welcome to KwaZulu-Natal

April 2, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

So after bidding farewell to Blue Hill we have traveled to stay in Howick with Ruby’s relatives Ken and Alison. The drive took two days, and the landscape and environment is considerably different to what we got used to in the cape. We also saw a lot of new animals on the way here, and Spion Kop, the hill after which the Kop at Anfield was named.

Spion Kop (The kop at Anfield was named after this hill)

Settling in

We are staying in a really nice residential complex on the outskirts of Howick. There is a communal heated pool, a library, lakes and a range wildlife roaming around. On our first full day here we took a walk round with Ken to see what wildlife we could see. Sometimes the animals are actually feeding on plants in the gardens of the houses themselves, it’s incredible how close they get and how comfortable they are around the residents here.

After taking a swim on Sunday morning I tried to get a picture stood near to a zebra. Amazingly it was really friendly and came right over and have a nibble on my arm! It was a great experience, but we guess that he did it because residents have been feeding him which isn’t good news as it is making him overly habituated with human contact.

FreeMe KZN

On our first day we popped into the local wildlife rehabilitation centre to ask whether they require any help as we will have plenty of free time to spare. They were very happy to take us on and we have spent some time there chopping vegetables for the animals, cleaning cages, assisting with ringing birds before they are released, and even bottle feeding the young Wildebeest! He is pretty adorable and he’s already fairly big. We also got to see the group of jackals being vaccinated for rabies which is very important before they’re released back to the wild.

It’s a great privilege to be able to help out there, we get to see some amazing animals close up, but it’s also sad to see the state that some of them are in. There is a bald ibis in there with a broken beak which has to be tube fed, I’m not sure whether he’ll ever be able to be released.

Bird watching

We took a trip to the nearby Karkloof conservation area to sit in some bird hides and see what popped up. The highlights were seeing two grey crowned crane displaying at each other, and seeing a pair of Wattled Crane thanks to a local farmer who drove us down the road to see them. There are only 300 Wattled Crane left in SA, a very rare bird!

Trip to Durban

We also spent yesterday wandering around the seafront at Durban where we saw some amazing sand art, and the Durban stadium which hosted world cup matches a few years ago.

South Africa

Farewell to Blue Hill!

March 29, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

After 5 weeks we have left Blue Hill Escape and had to say bye to all the wonderful people (and animals) we have left behind there. We have had some incredible and unforgettable experiences, and owe so much to Alan, Anja, their family, and the other guests for their incredible hospitality and company.

Take care all of you, and all the best for the future! We will keep in touch and will look forward to hearing more about the Rockjumpers!

Saying bye to Chutney, Alan, Charlie, Anja and Ellie

Saying bye to Elaine, Chris, Krista and Sarephina

South Africa

The mountain and the storm

March 29, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

On Sunday 22nd March we decided it was time to climb Blue Hill itself. I was feeling a bit under the weather (ironic) we eventually left at around 10am. With Ruby’s recent injury we knew we needed to climb slowly and take our time, and that we may not reach the top at all.

A Klipspringer watching us with a smile on his face

It was hot, and it was a long walk. Not too steep but a long steady climb up to the summit. And finally, after three and a half hours, we reached the top!

Panorama from the top of Blue Hill

Notice there were a few clouds forming at this point…

We started walking back down almost immediately (~2pm), keen to make sure we got back before dark. After an hour we were around half way down, and some serious clouds were forming, and a distant rumble of thunder prompted me to get a quick picture because it was amazing how quickly it had changed from hot and sunny, to cloudy and stormy.

We dropped from the top of the main ridge in case the storm blew our way, we knew that it was wise to keep low in case of lightning. We carried on, reaching the bottom of the slope, and all that really stood between us and our cottage was a small valley and then a long flat pateau. But then things took a nasty twist.

A sharp bolt of lightning way to our north seemed to emerge from a cloud that was still forming as is struck. And within seconds another bolt hit much closer to our west. The second bolt was far too close for comfort, and we knew we needed to get lower so we made a run for the nearby little valley, dropping our bags and electrical equipment along the way because they could attract a lightning strike.

We sat in the valley and waited as the storm grew and hovered over our heads. There wasn’t enough wind to blow it over so we laid in the valley listening to bolts strike to our north, west and east in quick succession, some of which were so frighteningly close that we could hear the crackling of the electricity. I will tell you now that I was pretty terrified at this point. Storms over here do not mess about. The rain had also started hammering down, the first rainfall inn the area since November! Great for the plants, terrible for us.

The rain had now soaked us and we were starting to shiver so we needed to start moving because the storm wasn’t going anywhere. But we couldn’t take the path home as we would have been the tallest things on the plateau, making us a possible target for a lightening bolt. So after half an hour we decided to crawl through the valley downstream, abandoning our bags. I was 85% sure it would lead round to the South Road which had high cliffs either side so that we could safely walk back. And there was literally no other option.

After crawling through all kinds of messy rocks and prickly bushes we found ourselves at a part of the stream which was already flowing really heavily from the rainfall so we couldn’t cross it. We had to stick to our side of the slope and climb round the rocks, which were now really quite slippy. We steadily made our way over a small hill, keeping as low as we could and found a way down to the stream, and a way to cross onto the South Road.

We staggered home, drenched, muddy and a bit shaken up. Ruby is also covered in cuts and bruises on her legs from the crawling. We had a warm meal and burnt wood in the log burner all evening to warm up. It had been scary but it felt good knowing we had found our own way out of such a sticky situation with limited options.

The following morning I returned to find our bags drenched through but in tact. We laid all of our things out in the sun to dry and luckily, there was very little damage done. Even our cameras worked again after some time to dry!

We learnt a lot of lessons from the harsh change in weather that day. Most importantly, always be prepared for the worst, no matter how unlikely it seems. Take care everyone! x

South Africa

A busy few weeks!

March 29, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

I’ve got a lot to catch up on as we’ve been busy and travelling so I’ll keep it as short as possible. Here’s what we’ve been up to –

Catching Scorpions

We found a tiny scorpion in our sink one morning and it turns out it was pretty venomous (the scorpion guide gave it a 7/10 venom rating). We caught it in a glass and gave it to Chutney as a treat.

Spotting Rockjumpers

We’ve spent a lot of time chasing these elusive characters.

Can you spot the Rockjumper?

Crafts

I made an axe! It couldn’t chop anything and it soon fell apart.

Taking walks

There is plenty of room to explore at Blue Hill, and lots of beautiful scenery.

The plateau and Blaukop (Blue Hill) in the background

Camera traps were on many gates around the reserve and used motion sensors to catch photos of wildlife passing by. We saw some amazing pictures on the camera traps whilst we were there, including a leopard, honey badger, caracal, baboons and bushpigs.

Watching animals

There are loads of animals hanging around posing for photos.

Searching for Leopards

One day we took a walk down the east road and heard a rather strange sound from the bushes very close to us. We later found several big cat footprints on the road and we almost definitely maybe might have heard a potential leopard. I’m positive that it’s a possibility.

Visiting an ostrich farm

One day Anja brought home an ostrich egg to for lunch (delicious) and I think it inspired a day out the next day to the ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn. We got to see big ostriches, hold baby ostriches and feed ostriches whilst they gave us a shoulder massage.

Chopping Wood

Chop chop. It was incredibly fun.

Stargazing

I have already mentioned the night sky a couple of times because it is incredible how much is visible here where there is virtually no light pollution. My camera was useless in such dark conditions but Krista took some great photos one night which show just how much we could see.

South Africa

Wonderful World, Beautiful People

March 12, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve become fascinated by how incredible the world is in areas where human impact is kept to a bare minimum, as this is the closest I have ever been to an environment which can truly be described as “wild”. The natural formation of the landscape, the climate, and the ways in which different species find ways to survive in it are mesmerising.

The Blue Hill nature reserve and what I’ve seen of the neighbouring area of the Baviaanskloof nature reserve are protected to preserve the natural fynbos environment, with the only trace of human intrusion being a couple of 4×4 tracks and some old farm boundary fences cutting through the hills and valleys. The area belongs to the wildlife that inhabits it, and it’s amazing to see the wide array of plants and animals which have evolved to survive in these conditions, even now when there has been no rainfall since November.

The lack of nearby towns or cities also means there is virtually no light pollution. On Monday night the sky was particularly clear, with no moon to wash out the stars with it’s glare. The result was incredible. We saw the kind of scene which I’d only ever seen before in pictures. Thousands of stars, a few planets, the milky way, the large magellanic cloud and shooting stars which were all incredibly bright. It was breathtaking to be able to see so much with the naked eye, and kind of difficult to comprehend the scale of what is out there. And it did make me wonder why I don’t stare up at the stars more often.

A Meerkat’s Wild Nature

This week I discovered that even partially domesticated meerkats retain their wild instincts. Meerkats are very social animals which live in colonies, and our resident meerkat Chutney loves our company. However, their colonies also have a structure of authority and this means Chutney is keen to try and assert dominance over new guests. Sure enough, this week Chutney decided to test his standing in our colony by sinking his teeth into my hand in an an attempted show of dominance. We had been warned this may happen and it’s important to respond in a way that he will understand, with a sharp smack on the head to show him who’s boss! He quickly learned his lesson and even though he will still show me his teeth playfully, he won’t bite me even if I put my hand between his teeth.

Ringing

Yesterday (Wednesday 11th March) Me, Ruby and Sarephina were offered the chance to take Alan’s ringing equipment down to the stream by the house and try to catch some birds, an offer we gladly accepted. We caught 15 birds through the morning and Ruby did a great job of leading the session practically on her own, doing all the ringing and taking all of the measurements. My favourite was definitely the kingfisher!

Celebrations

Yesterday also happened to be Alan’s birthday (Happy Birthday!) and there was a large group of us here to celebrate it. In the afternoon we all sat out in the sun and had a braai, kicked off with the genius stick-bread (wrapping bread dough around a stick and cooking it over the coals), before the main course of a gigantic pile of meat, and finished off with some delicious sweet lemon birthday cake.

It was great to relax and spend some time with the family and the other guests who all have some great stories to tell of their own travels. It has been a pleasure to spend the last few weeks with them and the hospitality they have shown us has been amazing, we will definitely be sad to leave in a couple of weeks.

It also looks as though the Cape Rockjumper research is starting to produce some interesting results! Hopefully we’ll see a little more on that in the next couple of weeks 🙂

South Africa

Monkey Business

March 10, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

Wednesday 4th March

Today I stayed in the office whilst Ruby, Krista and Alan went out and tracked rockjumpers. In the afternoon, Anja told me that the baboons were near the cottage so I went to have a look for them. As soon as I stepped out of the office they barked an alarm and started to run away, so I followed.

I followed their tracked across the field outside our cottage to the small valley that runs by with a stream. And sure enough, on the hill on the other side of the valley the baboons started to appear along the top ridge, silhouetted against the sky. It was fascinating to watch them and I got to see several baboons on lookout duty, some preening each other, and even some young ones playing.

Whilst down by the valley I also saw a large bone, thought to be part of the remains of a kudu who died there last year. I also took a picture of a lovely green patch by the stream which I thought to be deserted, only to find out later that there was a Grysbok stood there watching me the whole time. I was pretty gutted because it would have been a great sighting, but being colour blind meant I didn’t see him at all and walked away not knowing he was there…

South Africa

Misty Morning at Haarlem View

March 10, 2015 danlambey Leave a comment

Monday 2nd March

Up until this day it had been relatively clear skies every day so far at Blue Hill, but the fog really rolled in this morning. It made the equipment wet and made it almost impossible to spot birds for a while. It was ridiculously cold as well. Then it cleared in about 5 minutes, leaving clear skies and the sun bearing down on us.

Krista also took a bit of a tumble down some large boulders but came away with just a few scrapes and bruises. She was lucky! And I managed to spot the rockjumpers!